


A Series of Encounters

by Merfilly



Category: Forever Knight
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Charity Auctions, F/F, Pre-Relationship, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-03
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2019-01-28 21:44:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12616212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: Through the years, Natalie's and Janette's lives entwine, until a fateful encounter seals what they became without noticing.





	A Series of Encounters

**Author's Note:**

  * For [under_the_silk_tree](https://archiveofourown.org/users/under_the_silk_tree/gifts).



> My gratitude for the donation, and I hope this suits.

It had begun with Natalie walking brazenly into the club, a marked woman in many ways, but all in her favor. None within dared harm her for fear of the wrath of Nick Knight… or his sister. The mortal was tied to an elder, and only that elder's 'family' had the right to truly bring harm to her.

Natalie wasn't certain of anything of that, but she was willing to bluff her way through, if anyone bothered her. Schanke had been in here and survived, after all.

"This is not the best place for one like you," Janette said, seeming to appear in front of Natalie, dressed in a short black dress with her choker in place, hair perfectly coiffed, nails painted exquisitely, makeup accenting all of her beauty. For a harsh moment, Natalie felt lowly, imperfect, flawed… and then she shoved that away as a psychological ploy from the manipulator in front of her.

"Nick's in trouble, and he needs your help," Natalie said with firm conviction. "I can't reach him. You can. I know you can. He talks about you, and no matter where you two stand right now… you won't leave him like that."

Janette's lips thinned, and then she signaled that she would be leaving to her staff. "I am going only because I am already aware that things are out of control," she said in a firm hiss.

Natalie bit back the sharp retort, and thanked the saints that the other woman was being reasonable.

* * *

Natalie didn't want to know how or why Janette knew where she lived, even as she felt a prickle of wary fear on seeing the woman in her home. That fear was nudged aside as she saw Janette was clearly in pain, and there was a wasted, pinched look to her features.

"You owe me," Janette hissed, fangs evident and the eerie eyes showing how far the pain was pushing the woman. "Help me."

"Without getting into how exactly I owe you, I don't mind helping, but… you don't look very safe for me."

"I have more control than that!" Janette snapped, moving her hand away from the wooden quarrel that was embedded in her shoulder, letting Natalie see what the problem was.

"Let me get towels and some water to clean it out," Natalie said instantly, incapable of ignoring that wound or Janette's need, even if they were not, strictly speaking, anything like friends.

"Hurry, please. And you're late."

Natalie had to laugh, a sharp sound. "Keeping track of me now?"

"When mortals know our secrets, I make note of them. When they tangle with Nicholas's life, I pay close attention," Janette said, fighting down her nature by hiding in the discussion. Natalie hurried to get her supplies, including a first aid kit that she honestly wasn't certain would help much.

"In the movies, they always push these through, but I think the tip would hit bone," Natalie said after investigating the wound and weapon.

"Just pull it free. It is burning; probably blessed for use by the hunter." Janette looked as Natalie put one towel under the wound, then gripped the shaft where it protruded. "Nicholas will need to be warned."

"I know," Natalie told her, before she put her other hand on Janette's shoulder. "Ready?"

"Do—"

Before Janette could say the other word, Natalie applied her not inconsiderable strength to pulling straight back, and the quarrel came free with a nasty sound and smell, as the wound released it. Natalie quickly shifted her hand on the shoulder to grab the towel and push it up over the wound, packing it in as best she could one-handed.

Janette had flinched, but not cried out at the removal, though she bit her own lip. 

Natalie placed the quarrel on a second towel, then shifted to where she could irrigate and bandage, worried at how little blood came up despite the tearing she had done on removal. She hoped that was more a sign of Janette fighting to keep her blood in her body and not Janette being that depleted.

"I don't keep blood packs here," she said, unsure if it was an apology or just a statement of fact.

"Give me a few moments, and I will be able to leave on my own."

"I could drive you over to the Raven. Or to Nick's?"

"My club, and I will accept that."

Natalie finished her task, then hazarded a question. "Why here?"

"Closer. And you would not be squeamish, as Nicholas might be."

Natalie smiled, ducking her head. "Chivalrous nature and all that?"

"Something of the sort. Plus, the bolt would have irritated his skin, possibly more than mine, as he keeps his faith closer than I." Janette closed her eyes and rested against the cushions. "I suppose I will say thank you."

"Ooh. Don't make me think you're warming up," Natalie retorted, before setting out to clean up.

* * *

Somehow, Natalie was not surprised when, three nights after the murders, Janette was in her apartment. She set her bag down, took off her coat, and then slowly faced the woman.

"Why are you here?"

"To tell you that Nicholas did not kill them."

Natalie weighed that against her still simmering anger with the man she considered her friend, and finally let herself let go of it. "He didn't answer me because he didn't think you had survived?" she questioned.

"I do not know what he was thinking. I do know I do not wish harm in your friendship with him." Janette hesitated. "I also find myself loathe to intrude on his life directly, because I am uncertain I am pleased with his interference in my grief and choice to die."

"But you come here," Natalie pressed.

"I find that you are more comforting in the way you have endured his whims and choices," Janette said. "A kindred spirit, in certain fashions."

That was true, from a certain point of view, Natalie decided. "Are you staying then?"

"I had hoped to," Janette admitted. "Until I can determine just what I mean to do with myself, before I entreat my contacts to aid me. If it is—"

"No. I don't agree with how you handled your vengeance, but I won't turn you out," Natalie said softly. "You can use the second bedroom. And I'll see about getting you some more clothes."

Janette gave her an appraising look, and then she smiled in genuine relief. "Thank you, Natalie."

* * *

The breeze rippled in through the open window, a coolness that normally would have brought gooseflesh to the woman standing there. That her blood no longer moved and her heart no longer beat was the only reason it did not. She stood there for a long time, listening to the city, taking in the sight and sound of the life she could no longer take part in.

"Natalie, you are brooding again," Janette called. "Do leave such things to Nicholas, and come be grateful that you have any existence left."

"Should I be? Do I really? I stay here with you and learn what you think are the rules of this life, and let everything I have known and loved slip away from me."

Janette sighed and moved over to the woman, slipping her arms around her waist to hold on, pressing her cheek against a shoulder. "You could be dead-dead. Morte. Perished. I saved you from that."

Natalie pushed back into the hold, to the comfort, even if she was still adapting to the idea of that. Janette had saved her. She had been attacked by Nick's enemies, and Janette had not only fought them off for her, but had given her the choice of being brought across, or perishing from the blood loss.

"How angry are they? Nick and your maker?" Natalie asked, getting a soft laugh from Janette.

"Nicholas, he is uncertain what he should feel. Guilt over you having been attacked, anger that I brought you over, worry for you falling prey to our ways? As for Lacroix…" Janette moved around in front of Natalie, catching her eyes and holding them. "I had already eased him around to the idea, some time ago."

Natalie blinked, then tipped her head slightly to the side in puzzlement. "You did? Why?"

Now Janette smiled. "My darling Natalie, you did not think I only intervened for Nicholas's sake, did you? No. Your friendship, more than that these last few months, made me selfishly grasp the moment." She then moved away, going to sit on the sofa, her body language so much like a cat's that Natalie half-expected to hear her purring when she followed and sat beside her.

"Why?"

Janette made a quiet noise, satisfied and teasing all in one. "I admit, at first, it seemed like a good way to bring Nicholas away from his foolishness — don't start! He was going to get all of us exposed, and I think you understand now why that would be terrible!

"Mortals do not need to know the monsters are real to encourage them to kill others on the pretext of protecting their society. How many men and women would be declared one of us, or in our service, and summarily killed should they have reason to believe we are real?"

Natalie frowned, wanting to protest, but her very line of work as a mortal precluded it. "I hate when you make a logical case for it. More because I know the risks Nick took, and the things he did that couldn't quite be explained away."

"I studied you. From Nicholas's words of you to what our information broker could find on you. Granted, that last required a bit of persuasion on my part to keep you safe. They do dislike learning that mortals are aware of us."

"So you told me, that first night I woke up," Natalie said softly. Janette had explained that Nick had done his best to cover up her disappearance as a death. The lack of a body would have posed a small problem, but he would not have been able to slip a decoy through past Grace, and Natalie knew Grace would have insisted on handling it.

"I came to respect you, in your zeal to help Nicholas in what he wished, even if I disagree with his goals. It would have been so easy to become jealous, I admit, for Nicholas has been mine for centuries. Yet he and I had moved to a point where such was far better left to the past." Janette shifted on the sofa a bit, tucking her legs up beside her as she leaned more toward Natalie, reaching out to play with her hair.

"Respect doesn't equal courting… I won't say permission, as I have the impression you do as you wish, if it fits with your choices in survival," Natalie said. "Courting the blessing of taking me."

Janette laughed, low and musical. "Oh that is a delightful way to put it, yes. You are right. It took much of the past couple of years of seeing how far you would go for Nicholas, for your family, for what you believed in for me to realize that I hungered for a companion like you. Someone witty and brave and full of passion for your choices."

"Now you have me. It's been… intoxicating," Natalie said, as she contemplated the last — was it weeks? Months? Time was blurring for her, as Janette taught her how to hide, how to live as a vampire in the underside of the city. "You take time to teach me, to help me understand," she continued. "You're very free with affection and touch. I think, in some ways, I was growing starved for that."

Janette moved from toying with Natalie's hair to caressing her face gently. "We may be the monsters of mortal nightmares, but we should not be, not with one another. Else, what purpose is there in living, in seeing time go by and manners change? Companionship, it keeps us more alive than blood alone.

"Oh there are plenty of hermits and curmudgeons. Nicholas has tried both of those roles on. But for me, I thrive on having others to share the night with," Janette said, voice gently seductive before she leaned in to claim a light kiss.

When it ended, Natalie could not help but sigh, firmly enchanted by the way Janette made her feel so special, at the center of her night.

"What comes next?" she asked softly.

Janette smiled. "Immediately? More of this. Soon? We will move on. Make a new life in another city. Nicholas will probably follow; his life here is closing in around him once more. But we will be there first, and I will show you more of why the night is not the thing Nicholas fears."

"Good," Natalie said softly, before chasing after another kiss all on her own.


End file.
